A Nameless Ghoul of Ghost B.C. picks six top horror films

For fans of the Swedish metal band Ghost B.C., every day can feel a little like Halloween. The group's fascinatingly eerie appearance (frontman Papa Emeritus II is a skull-faced anti-pontiff while the others don hooded robes and face-concealing black masks) seem custom-made for Fright Night, so much so that one has to wonder why Hollywood hasn't already signed the creepy sextet up for a their own cinematic adventure.

Not surprisingly, widescreen horror informs much of Ghost B.C.'s musical and visual aesthetic, and one of the band's Nameless Ghouls regards himself as something of a scary movie aficionado. But the guitarist has some rather exacting standards for the genre, telling MusicRadar that "there are so many great horror films, but there’s a big difference between quality work and movies that are simply fun and cool. The entertainment value of some B films can be quite high, and I can be a fan of the music and overall feel, even though the movies themselves might kind of suck."

The Ghoul also draws a distinction between cheap-thrill slice-and-dice spoolers and pictures that delve into the darker, more cerebral regions of terror. “I tend to like a lot of films that are based more in mental horror and aren’t so much about slashing," he says. "Slasher movies can be fun, but they don’t hit you with the same impact as ones that delve into the real psychological nature of horror."

In compiling his list of six top horror films, the Nameless Ghoul explains that his selections had to meet certain criteria in terms of mood and mise en scene. “I’m picky about atmosphere and milieu," he says, "and of course, the music is crucial. An effective horror film creates an environment that you either don’t want to be in or one want to be in. You need to be able to lose yourself in the world of the movie.”